Painkiller Enigma
Why do they still sell ibuprofen, naproxen, aspirin and all the other over-the-counter painkillers? They all work exactly the same way, don't they? (with the obvious exception of acetaminophen which I am willing to excuse.)
If I ran a drug store I would carry only one. But which one is best? Now I wish I had paid closer attention to all those Aleve ads that show the "caplet" dissolving and pouring out life-giving teal etc. and then express, in graph form, just how much longer lasting they are than their competitors. But if Aleve is really the king of drugs, why are we still selling aspirin? Is it for the traditional crowd?
Personally I just think the OTC drug companies do it to confuse us. There are almost never any new OTC drugs and it gets hard to advertise them in creative new ways all the time ("Tylenol: you've been peripherally aware of it for over 50 years"). If, once and for all, there was a comparison of their products on the merits, all but one would be practically forced out of the market. After all, they all do the same thing, but someone does it best.
Rather than take that risk that something they don't have the patent on is really the best, the drug compaines have decided to obscure the truth and keep competing in the same old byzantine marketplace, relying on customers' idiosyncratic drug preferences -- I'm an aspirin man myself -- to guarantee a certain market share for each. I say it's time to smash this semi-cartel. Which NSAID is really the best?
If I ran a drug store I would carry only one. But which one is best? Now I wish I had paid closer attention to all those Aleve ads that show the "caplet" dissolving and pouring out life-giving teal etc. and then express, in graph form, just how much longer lasting they are than their competitors. But if Aleve is really the king of drugs, why are we still selling aspirin? Is it for the traditional crowd?
Personally I just think the OTC drug companies do it to confuse us. There are almost never any new OTC drugs and it gets hard to advertise them in creative new ways all the time ("Tylenol: you've been peripherally aware of it for over 50 years"). If, once and for all, there was a comparison of their products on the merits, all but one would be practically forced out of the market. After all, they all do the same thing, but someone does it best.
Rather than take that risk that something they don't have the patent on is really the best, the drug compaines have decided to obscure the truth and keep competing in the same old byzantine marketplace, relying on customers' idiosyncratic drug preferences -- I'm an aspirin man myself -- to guarantee a certain market share for each. I say it's time to smash this semi-cartel. Which NSAID is really the best?
posted by apk01004 at 2:26 AM
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